


Just Donna

by fightforyourwrite



Category: Teen Titans (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Glasses, Neighbours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 21:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14724144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fightforyourwrite/pseuds/fightforyourwrite
Summary: In which Donna struggles to fit in and Roy tries to help her out.





	Just Donna

Roy’s neighbours all hold themselves with a particular rhythm, which makes Donna feel as if she sticks out like a sore thumb.

It’s feels so clear that she doesn’t technically live in the building, although Roy has been more than happy in regards to her spending the night as his place.

There Donna remains, spending the afternoon with Roy’s neighbours at a barbecue on the rooftop of their building, holding a bottle of seltzer in her hand and a reluctance to actually speak to anyone.  

Donna keeps to herself most of the time. It feels easier that way.

Roy, on the other hand, is much more preoccupied with talking to his neighbours. According to him, only the landlord knows that he’s Arsenal, but by the way his other neighbours treat him, Donna gets the idea that a few other people have caught on to the truth.

At the corner of the roof, Donna stands with her drink. She had been sticking to softer beverages for the afternoon, save for a glass of whatever the landlord’s wife had been chugging. She had taken it to be polite and assumed that it was some kind of red wine. Hopefully.

At one point in the afternoon, a point where Donna seems to be staring off at the Manhattan skyline, she feels a hand tapping her shoulder. She turns around to see Roy standing next to her, a cola in his hand and a grin on his face.

There’s something assuring in the way that he smiles at her. It quells some of the nerves in her heart.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Whatcha doing all the way over here?” asks Roy, leaning against the raised ledge.

“People watching…” Donna answers. She puts down her bottle of seltzer. “…and thinking.”

“About what?”

“That I might be out of my element here,” she responds dryly. For a beat, she looks to the skyline, then back to Roy. “And that I look ridiculous in these glasses.”

She raises her hand to her spectacles and touches the rims with her fingers. It’s difficult for her to convince herself not to take them off. As cumbersome as they are, they are a small price for Donna to pay to not be mistaken for Wonder Woman in public. Donna only wishes that they didn’t feel so clunky.

In a contrast to Donna’s glasses-induced discontent, Roy shakes his head and says, “That’s nonsense, Donna. You look perfect.”

It’s hard for her not to smile in response. She keeps her gaze away from him, doing nothing to disguise the flattered look on her face.

“Don’t you have neighbours to talk to, Harper?” Donna brings up.

“I do,” Roy confirms. He reaches over and places a hand on Donna’s shoulder. His touch is gentle, inviting, and his smile is even more so. “But I think a lot of them would be more interested in talking to you. Mr. Larkin’s been asking me about the sexy lady he’s seen me running around with. He wants to know if she’s got an older sister.”

“Tell him it’s a long story,” Donna simplifies, although she is quite humoured at Mr. Larkin’s apparent haste.

“Tell him yourself,” Roy recommends, gently tugging Donna towards the more crowded area of the rooftop. “Come on, Troy, I’ve seen you work a crowd before.”

“I’ve worked crowds in uniform as Donna Troy,” she corrects quite quickly. The situation isn’t that comparable when all her armour consists of is a pair of glasses and a sweatshirt. “It’s not exactly easy for me to work a crowd as just… Donna.”

The last few months had been a search for her. She had been too caught up in super heroics and ‘fate of the world at stake’ crap that she barely had time to focus on one pressing question:

Who is Donna Troy? More importantly, who is Donna Troy when she’s not saving the world?

She had always envied Roy in a way, he could easily fit into the world when his mask came off. Sometimes Donna wondered if she even had a mask in the first place or if she should even bother finding one in the first place.

“Just Donna is all I’m asking for right now,” Roy tells her. “Just Donna’s fine.”

He turns to face her properly, letting both his hands rest on her. One is on her shoulder, the other is on her cheek.

The look in his pretty eyes is nothing but comforting. There’s always this honesty with Roy, a bluntness in a way, but a gentler one. He’s always this way with Donna, she’s one of the few people he feels comfortable enough with.

There’s a beat, a pregnant silence shared between the two. Then soon, Donna finds herself pushing the rims of her spectacles up the bridge of her nose.

“Alright, Harper,” she agrees. “Let’s see how this goes.”

“You’re doing great,” Roy assures her. He kisses her forehead to accentuate his point. “And hey, as long as some weird crap doesn’t fly outta the sky, or the harbinger of the apocalypse doesn’t happen to be attending this exact barbecue, I’m sure things’ll go fine.”

“Okay. But you’re going to feel really dumb if that actually happens. You’re the one who jinxed it.”

“That is a burden I accept, Troy. Now come on, Mr. Larkin’s not the only one who wants to meet you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I gotta be very honest and say that the reason why I've been writing Rebirth!Donna so much more often is because I think there's so much to explore with her. 
> 
> Also, back when n52!Donna was introduced in Wonder Woman, I actually liked the character a lot because I really wanted to see her get redeemed. I really wanted to see her grow into her role as a hero despite her sordid origins and purpose as a creation. 
> 
> I'm glad that Donna's back to her compassionate, vulnerable, loyal self, especially in the pages of Titans. 
> 
> There's just a tiny little bit of sass and fish-out-of-water-ness that sets Rebirth!Donna apart from preboot!Donna and I love both characters equally.


End file.
